• The Inaugural GLAAD Media Awards in Advertising were held on 27th October. The awards honour "individuals and projects in the advertising and marketing industries for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community".

• The American Family Association (altogether now - BARF!) claim the the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (see last week's edition) is "un-American". That's apparently because it "normalises homosexual behaviour".

• "They had everything out there naked, and you can see it plain as day. What I witnessed there and what you saw on that camera is no different than pornography." A concerned American dad talks about a gay Rodeo held on his street. It was never like this at Southfork.

• He's got the kind of scary jaw and chin that only American soap stars have, but let's face it - who wouldn't have a go on Brandon Beemer? The Bold and The Beautifulmodelactor has been lensed for Adam Bouska's NoH8 campaign (left) and will teaseappear in next month's Cosmopolitan. Via Towleroad.

• King & King - the gay-themed children's book - in glorious live action Technicolor!

• Paul Haggis, director of Crash, has quit the Church of Scientology - due to religioncult's position on LGBT issues. Not because of the aliens and spaceships, then...

• Watch Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis throw his toys out of a pram in this ABC interview. Freaky midget Tom Cruise pops up a lot too:

• Irene Monroe (one of the smartest voices in the LGBT community) writes about the growth of Evangelical Christianity and its persecution of supposed "witch children".

• On the other hand, here's one backward heffer if ever there was one. Andy Towle writes at Towleroad, "One of Bishop Harry Jackson's disciples apparently got the final slot in yesterday's testimony before the D.C. Council on marriage equality, and took the opportunity to sermonize the chamber on God, reproduction, Sodom and Gomorrah, the devil, same-sex unions and slavery, and morality."

• "As far as with gay rights, yeah, [Obama is] failing on that... The LGBT community doesn't really want to be at the back of the line, but as long as we're in the line... To me, he's doing a great job. I really believe that eventually he'll get to the other issues with gay rights." Wanda Sykes on Obama.

• The Westboro Baptist Church are at it again. And they've got it in for the Jews too. Six of the jokers turned up to wave their humourous placards about. Oh, and they're still encouraging people to eat their babies. Ya gotta love 'em!

• "Women, from the way I see it, have become too complicated and unattractive in marriage. You don't provide what God intended you to give in marriage. You have frustrated the men so much leading them to trying among themselves whether they will get the joy that comes with marriage". A priest explains the real reasons behind the marriage of Kenyan gay couple Daniel Chege Gichia and Charles Ngengi. It didn't go down too well.

• A Metropolitan Police sergeant has been convicted of sexually assaulting a colleague.

• London: Around 4,000 people filled Trafalgar Square for a candle-lit vigil honouring hate crime victims; organiser Mark Healey said: "If we forget about these victims we could become complacent and fail to learn from the past." (Pictures by Flickr user Zefrog.)

• Ian McKellen talks about being a second-class citizen: "[It's] the scar that I and so many others bear – we believed ourselves to be second-rate citizens for so long, the idea of being able to say 'This is my husband, these are my children' was not an option."

• "You would think from television that life is just about straight white people having affairs." Why are we ignored by British television?Left, gays representing on this year's Big Brother.

• The former chief executive of LGBT Youth Scotland, James Rennie, is convicted of a "catalogue" of charges, including the sexual abuse of a baby, the possession and manufacture of abusive images and conspiracy to commit sexual assault on children. This disturbing story makes for grim reading. LGBT Youth Scotland say there is no evidence he abused any children whilst at the charity.

• Kenya is to launch a census of its gay population. "Kenyans cannot actually afford to say that the gay community are isolated somewhere in the corner - they are part of our lives," says Nicholas Muraguri, head of Nascop (Kenya's AIDS prevention programme).

• JLS: top the, er... sex charts. (Well, this one's from News of the World. Apologies in advance.)

• JLS: Popjustice takes a look at the packaging for the JLS album. You'll laugh. Honest.

• JLS: Blue's Simon Webbe (sigh) says, "I don't think an all-black boyband like JLS would have been signed in the days when we were starting out." Er, has he never heard of MN8, Ultimate Kaos and Damage? Cha...

"I would also like to take this opportunity to squash the persistent rumours about mysterious 'disappearances' and emphasize that rural and urban areas are now enjoying a life of harmony and peace. I'm sure you're glad to hear this. And I'm happy you're glad."